In the ever-changing world known as Google products and services, Google has announced yet another algorithm update. However, this time around it isn’t Panda 3.0 – the update doesn’t even apply to search. The newest update has been applied to the traffic estimates you see in AdWords. According to Dan Friedman from the Inside AdWords Team:

“Today we’re announcing an update to the algorithm behind the traffic estimates you see in AdWords. As a result of our updates, we hope to provide you with better statistics for estimated clicks, cost, and ad position. This change is effective now and affects all AdWords accounts globally.”

Nothing exciting has been done to update the actual interface, just the behind the scenes interpolation. One of the primary differences I first noticed was that you are now required to enter a number in the “Max CPC $” field illustrated below:

Other than a keyword and a max CPC you are not required to enter any other information in order to get an estimate for the global monthly searches, local monthly searches, estimated average CPC, estimated ad position, estimated daily clicks, estimated daily cost, competition or local search trends.

However, the biggest benefit of the updated algorithm is the fact that you are able to more accurately estimate traffic and bid structure when you are building your campaign. More info from Dan and the AdWords team:

“In order to determine if you’re setting an appropriate target bid, try entering a few different values in the Max CPC field the next time you use the Traffic Estimator. Look at how these different bids affect your statistics, and then decide which bid gives you the best return on investment. You can use the same process for trying out new budgets.”

So have at it, test out the new algorithm to refine your bidding & keyword strategy and better optimize your campaign performance.

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In February this year, comScore reported that Facebook ads accounted for more than one-third of all US display ad impressions. eMarketer also reported last month that Facebook would surpass Yahoo! in display ad revenue this year; which means that more than one in five US display dollars will go to Facebook, a staggering YOY increase. Facebook advertising is no longer just a fun trend to watch, it is becoming an online advertising requisite.

Getting started with Facebook advertising is simple; albeit a manual process that requires basic planning, targeting and creativity. With Facebook’s 500 million+ active user base, there is a compelling reason to test Facebook advertising for your brand, products or services – your customers are online and on Facebook.

Getting started

Understand goals and objectives for the campaign: In our experience, we’ve seen a higher success rate in driving “likes” and increasing fan engagement vs. taking people to a landing page or website. The culprit? Facebook-ers typically don’t like to be taken off of Facebook while they’re in Facebook mode, and thus, taking people off of Facebook results in a high bounce rate and low qualified, less engaged traffic.

Check out Facebook’s guidelines: Provided on their Help Center page, advertisers can learn about creating, targeting, and launching a Facebook ad campaign.

Complete the set-up process: With goals and objectives in mind, choose and upload ad creative or logo, choose your targeting and demographic specifications and set a budget using Facebook’s manual campaign builder tool. Creating a single ad will take most newbie advertisers under 10 minutes to build.

Test & Tweak: Because users on Facebook are viewing connections’ photos, perusing status updates and the like, the ad needs to capture the user with a bold image and call-to-action. Likewise, ads can quickly become less and less effective as users become “fatigued” with seeing the same image or message over and over again. This will decrease CTR as well as impressions if your ad’s performance drops. Creating and testing fresh ads continually, will have the biggest impact on maintaining and improving the performance of ad campaigns over time.

One of the main advantages of using Facebook ads is the ability to target customers more granularly by their interests, as well as other demographic factors such as age, education, connections, location, etc. Instead of targeting users based on search intent and bidding on keywords (think Google AdWords), Facebook allows advertisers the ability to hone in on a very qualified, niche audience at a reasonable cost.

Selecting the option to target Facebook users whose friends already “like” that particular page can dramatically help to reinforce the advertising message by utilizing the power and influence of a Facebook user’s connections. With this option selected, the ad will include that users’ friends name next to a thumbs up “Like” icon (see below example), which can boost click through rate and improve the potential for that user to like that particular page; because their decision is being influenced by their friends’ interests and “likes”. Showing these connection preferences can have a strong influence over the success of an ad and the action the user takes once on the Page in question.

Results

Formic recently ran a Facebook ad campaign for Rasmussen BMW with a minimal daily spend ($5 day) based on a limited test budget. As a result, Facebook “likes” increased by 438%, interactions & engagement increased by 238%, and Facebook referral traffic to the website increased by 2,216.67%.

Facebook Ad

Next Steps

Allocate resources to test the Facebook advertising waters. For small businesses, the self-serve campaign creation model may work well and keep costs down. However, for larger corporations who need to scale their campaigns, looking towards specialized agencies may be the key. As the popularity of display advertising and spend on Facebook increases, it’s unclear whether or not this will have an adverse affect on ad rates. Regardless, it’s best to strike while the iron is hot, before an influx in advertisers increases advertising fatigue on users and dulls performance or significantly increases ad costs. Launching, testing and refining your first Facebook campaign may open up a new and effective online advertising medium for your business.

A common question that arises while working with and managing a company’s PPC efforts is whether or not they should be bidding on branded keywords if they are already ranking number #1 organically (for their company name). Logically, it doesn’t seem to make sense to pay for keywords your website is already ranking #1 for in the search engine results, for free. However, it’s important to consider some of the reasons why a company should enhance their online presence with the help of a branded PPC campaign.

Own the search engine results page (SERP) – Bidding on branded keywords can help your listings (paid and organic) own the first page of results for your company name. Not only do multiple listings help to reinforce your company’s presence, but in some cases it can help simulate brand authority and credibility when a user sees your brand all over the first page of search results; also helping to increase organic click through rate.

Protect your brand from competitors – Consider a branded campaign as an online reputation management (ORM) tactic, particularly if you’re in a competitive market space – but even if you’re not. Branded keywords are often considerably cheaper in comparison to a company’s top, general keywords and can help ensure that you are preventing competitors from appearing above your #1 organic listing for your company name. Even if competitors are not bidding on your company name now, proactive ORM can ensure your company is being perceived accurately; and keep those pesky competitors from appearing above you.

Not all users click on the organic listings – For savvy web users who typically click on organic results over paid results, it’s important to realize that although approximately 70% of users click on organic results, the other 30% or so click on the paid results, not realizing there’s a difference. It’s critical for your company to be visible to 100% of searchers, not just the 70% that click on the organic results. With sponsored listings (especially those with ad extensions such as sitelinks or location extensions) taking up a significant portion of top of the page real estate above organic listings, it’s important for your company to be visible in this space too.

PPC ads allow you to control your messaging – While you do have control over your organic listing’s title and meta descriptions, PPC ads give you the ability to nimbly change messaging to highlight offers, competitive factors, and different value propositions within minutes.

PPC ads allow you to control your targeting – Unlike organic search, PPC ads allow you to control where and when your ads are shown, which keeps your audience targeted, relevant and costs down.

In any case, before you rule out bidding on branded keywords, consider the above benefits and conduct a test. By testing and analyzing the results, it’s undoubtedly a win-win situation, as the proof will be within the data (one way or the other). If branded keywords are driving up your paid search cost, lowering ROI, or affecting your other traffic sources negatively, then you can decisively rule a branded campaign out of your paid search mix for the time being and not second guess whether you’re missing out on traffic, conversions or revenue – win. Moreover, if branded keywords help improve your online visibility, traffic, ROI, or conversion activity – another win!

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Ad sitelinks have become a big success since their release over a year ago, helping advertisers to increase their CTR up to 30% on average. As a result of sitelinks’ success and popularity, Google decided to improve the way they serve their ad sitelinks. As you know, Google allows advertisers to add up to 10 sitelinks at the campaign level, which are then applied to relevant ads (which meet AdWords policy guidelines) at the ad group level. Up until last week, Google chose to display an advertiser’s sitelinks by the order in which they were added. Very scientific of Google.

“In the past, we simply used the order in which you entered your Sitelinks to rank which ones to serve. For example, while you could enter up to ten Sitelinks for a campaign, we primarily used the top four for any ad in the campaign (as long as they met our policy guidelines).” – Inside AdWords

With AdWords’ ad sitelinks new serving enhancement, sitelinks will be shown based on historical performance data, rotating in the sitelinks with the best CTR more often. While advertisers will continue to create sitelinks at the campaign level, performance data will be assessed at the ad group level. While this new serving enhancement is fantastic, AdWords still does not provide advertisers with the performance data for individual sitelinks. This lack of data is unfortunate, as advertiser’s currently have no way of knowing which sitelink is performing better, because the CTR is applied to the entire group of sitelinks and not at the individual link level.

In the meantime, at least AdWords is now rotating sitelinks into ads based on performance data, and here’s to hoping that sitelink level performance data will be the next update in Google’s line of ad sitelinks enhancements.

Amidst your 2011 planning and the year end rush to the finish line, don’t let your PPC campaigns take a back seat to last minute deadlines. As an advertiser, your campaigns may be long overdue for tune up and there is no better time than the present to prepare them for the new year. Start planning ahead for a successful PPC program in 2011 by giving your campaigns the gifts they need to be successful. To help your campaigns perform to your advertising goals and objectives, consider a few of these gifts that are most certainly at the top of your PPC campaign’s wish list this holiday season:

Stocking Stuffers: Even if your campaigns have plenty of traffic driving, high converting keywords in their repertoire, they can never have too many negative match keywords to keep unwanted search traffic from wasting budget (by way of un-targeted search queries). Throw a handful of negative keywords into your PPC campaign’s stocking with the promise of more to come throughout the new year. These easy and often overlooked additions are simple to find through a process that is right at your finger tips. In AdWords, navigate to the “Keywords” tab and select “See Search Terms > All” from the drop down. Start browsing through the results to find negative keyword choices (untargeted search queries that are triggering your ads) and pick out the perfect additions for your campaigns this season. And, there are plenty of online tools that help generate negative keyword suggestions with your specific campaigns in mind.

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If you have already begun to implement the recommendations and holiday tips from John, in his SEO for the Holidays post, great work! Because SEO and on-site optimization tactics have a longer timeframe before you can expect to see results (but it’s worth it, as in the end you’re not 100% reliant on paid clicks for your traffic and sales), it’s never too early to get started. However, with the holiday season approaching, consider pairing your SEO strategy with a PPC one if you’re looking to gear up your holiday advertising presence more quickly. PPC campaigns have a shorter ramp up cycle and can be created, launched and up and running in just a few hours. Nevertheless, don’t let this fast track to results fool you, PPC campaigns need to be crafted just as strategically as SEO campaigns. Especially, for the holidays.

While the holidays can be a huge source of income for retailers, you can never assume that consumers are more likely “pull the trigger” and buy because it’s the holiday season. In fact, numerous studies including a 2010 Post-Holiday Consumer Study by Google, shows that the shopping cycle of average consumers is lengthening. This means that your potential customers are doing a lot of research prior to purchase, even for lesser-priced items like cosmetics and pet supplies.

Holiday Tip: Keep the lengthening shopping cycle and consumer buying habits in mind, and ensure that your PPC strategy includes broad and specific keyword variations that your potential customer would use throughout their research and buying process. This includes general keywords, long-tail keywords and branded or product specific keywords.

Research and Review before Getting Started

Before you launch your PPC campaign for the holidays, you should review holiday campaigns from the previous season to see what keywords, ads and landing pages performed the best. This will give you a good baseline for creating a high performing campaign this year. If you did not run a holiday campaign last year, don’t worry. Do some competitive research and see what your competitors, similar retailers and stores are running successfully this year. Then, use similar tactics when targeting keywords and writing ad text.

Holiday Tip: Don’t forget to schedule your launch dates and advertising messaging around nationwide sales days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas Day. Online shoppers are out in droves, looking for deals and are ready to buy.

Create Ad Text that Speaks to your Customers

Use calls to action! Don’t assume that your customers will do what you want them to do once they hit your site. You will likely miss an opportunity to convert an undecided visitor into a sale. It’s imperative that you give your potential customers a purpose and a reason to buy from you. This includes highlighting your holiday specials, promotions and product value propositions for them. And, based on your research, make sure that your ad headlines and copy include keywords that users are searching on, as these terms will be bolded in the search results and help draw a user’s eye to your ad.

Take a look at the ads below, the ad on the left is compelling a user to shop, and giving them a good reason to do so (i.e. Huge Sale and Free Shipping). The ad on the left has done a good job at utilizing appropriate keywords, but does not include a call to action, enticing the user to click on their ad versus the competitors’ ad. While first impressions can gain or lose potential shoppers, to generate a successful holiday PPC campaign it’s important for your ad to stand out from the crowd.

Holiday Tip: To get your ads to stand out from the crowd even further, consider adding convenience features such as Google Checkout or utilizing AdWords Sitelinks or AdWords Product Extensions through Google Merchant Center to display eye-catching imagery along with your sponsored text ad. And, don’t forget to test your ads!

Use Targeted Landing Pages

Once you’ve captured your potential customer’s click, what’s next? Your messaging has done its job, but the user experience has just begun. To improve your chances of converting your visitor, their experience upon landing on your site must align with their expectations and provide them with the tools and content needed for them to buy. Now, it’s up to your landing page strategy and conversion funnel to close the deal.

The content on your landing pages should align with the promotions and keywords in your ads and ad groups. Prominent “Buy Now” or “Shop Now” buttons should be used to grab the visitor’s attention immediately. Simplify their navigation options on the page and make their path to conversion easy. And, don’t forget to include relevant imagery that aligns with what the user was expecting to find by clicking on your ad.

Holiday Tip: Use your landing pages as an opportunity to merchandise by recommending other items that pair well with the product they’re considering buying. This improves the potential to increase the final order value and drive additional revenue for related items. FInally, don’t forget to test your landing pages!

For an immediate online presence during the holidays, PPC advertising can extend your visibility quickly through targeted keywords and strategic holiday messaging throughout your potential customer’s research and buying process (helping them choose to buy from you versus a competitor). However, before you throw budget at a PPC campaign for the holidays, make sure you’re planning ahead and have time to optimize key elements properly, to ensure that you generate the sales revenue you’re seeking. By utilizing the PPC best practices outlined above, you will be well on your way towards getting in front of your target audience when they’re looking for what you offer and converting them into holiday sales. Cha-ching!

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One of the trickiest aspects of writing PPC ads is finding a way to confine your advertising message within Google AdWords’ strict character limits. In some cases, the use of necessary punctuation is omitted in an effort to fit more words into the ad text copy.

It’s easy to begin writing a PPC ad, arrive at the end of your Line 2 character limit, and decide it’s not worth re-writing to fit a period at the end of the sentence. You think, no big deal, searchers will understand it’s the end of a sentence because the second sentence begins on Line 3. Wrong – to some extent. It’s time to get back into the habit of best practice ad copywriting, specifically when using correct punctuation. Here’s why.

Google has recently started “text wrapping” (think Microsoft Word/Excel) sponsored listings in SERPs (as well as organic listings), as the browser becomes narrower or wider. Depending on the width of a searcher’s browser, your ad may not be displayed in the typical 25-35-35 fashion.

Additionally, text ads in the top positions (purple box) on Google.com also have a similar issue, as Line 2 and Line 3 of the ad text are normally displayed on a single line regardless of how you have previously configured the characters within the AdWords interface or using AdWords Editor. These ads are also affected by text wrapping.

In some circumstances, an advertiser’s neglect to add the appropriate punctuation may compromise the readability and messaging of a PPC ad. Google’s display of variable AdWords line lengths in SERPs can return confusing, run on sentences to searchers. The last thing you (as an advertiser) want to do is to have your first impression with a potential customer be a lackluster one. Poor use of punctuation, or lack thereof, can rub searchers the wrong way. Your potential customers or clients may dismiss your unpolished ad for a competitor’s ad, which reads more professionally.

Figure 1 below shows ads that are displaying lines of text that exceed the 35 character length as a result of text wrapping:

Figure 1: AdWords Ad Text Wrapping

The current AdWords interface and most recent version of AdWords Editor do not allow advertisers to manipulate how their ad text length will display in variation from the traditional 25 and 35 character limits. The takeaway – it’s up to small business advertisers to create ad text accordingly, using punctuation that reads correctly regardless of what AdWords line length is shown. With the holiday advertising season closing in, now is the time for advertisers to audit current PPC ads and fix punctuation anomalies.